WHY I THINK KEN WILLIAMS SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN
By- Damien
Ken Williams was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history. He had every offensive skill in abundance. Williams hit for a .319 career average with fantastic power, amazing RBI totals, patience and discipline at the plate, fine bunting skills, and even plenty of stolen bases. Part of his .319 average came from the fact that he very rarely struck out, which also means that he has one of the best strikeout to walk ratios in history. On top of all this, he was also an excellent defensive leftfielder, probably the best of his time. Ken Williams started his career with the Cincinnati Reds in 1915 with a .242 average in 71 games. Struggling through the dead ball era, Williams played no more than ten games per season until 1919, when he batted .300 in 65 games. Williams was a regular by 1920, his age 30 season, and he hit .307. From 1921 through 1925, Williams batted a combined .339 with 135 home runs and only 136 strikeouts. He had more RBI’s than games played in two of those seasons, and more home runs than strikeouts in two. From 1926 through 1929, Williams remained a valuable hitter (combined .307 average with decent power), but wasn’t the unthinkable hitter that he was earlier in his career. I’ve heard that a Hall of Famer should preferably have at least a seven year peak in which he plays at a Hall of Fame level. Williams’s peak was only five years long, but it was so remarkable that, in my opinion, it was better than most Hall of Famers’ seven year peaks. Remember, those were his age 31-35 seasons. He also had many other great years in which he played, arguably, at a Hall of Fame level. His career rate statistics are also well above the Hall of Fame averages. This speaks pretty clearly that Ken Williams is a Hall of Famer.
LIFETIME STATISTICS
Games career: 1,397 season high: 153 in 1922
At Bats career: 4,862 season high: 585 in 1922
Hits career: 1,552 season high: 198 in 1923
Doubles career: 285 season high: 37 in 1923
Triples career: 77 season high: 13 in 1920
Home Runs career: 196 season high: 39 in 1922 led AL: 39 in 1922
Runs career: 860 season high: 128 in 1922
Runs Batted In career: 916 season high: 155 in 1922 led AL: 155 in 1922
Stolen Bases career: 154 season high: 37 in 1922
Walks career: 566 season high: 79 in 1923
Strikeouts career: 287 season high: 42 in 1921
Batting Average career: .319 season high: .357 in 1923
On Base Percentage career: .393 season high: .439 in 1923
Slugging Percentage career: .530 season high: .627 in 1922 led AL: .613 in 1925
Total Bases career: 2,579 season high: season high: 367 in 1922 led AL: 367 in 1922
Sacrifice Hits career: 160 season high: 26 in 1920
Fielding Percentage career: .958 season high: .971 in 1928
Double Plays career: 44 season high: 7 in 1920 led AL LF: 7 in 1920, 5 in 1923
Putouts career: 2,956 season high: 372 in 1922
Assists career: 167 season high: 25 in 1921 led AL LF: 25 in 1921
DID YOU KNOW?
-went 1-for-4 with an RBI on his MLB debut
-finished 15th in the AL MVP voting in 1923 and 22nd in 1924
-his 155 RBI’s in 1922 are the St. Louis Browns’ single season franchise record
-holds the St. Louis Browns’ career records for on base percentage (.403), slugging percentage (.558), and OPS (.961)
-In 1922, he became the first and only 30-30 club member for 34 years, until Willie Mays accomplished the feat in 1956
-became the first man in MLB history to hit two home runs in one inning on August 7, 1922
-hit eight home runs off of Jack Quinn, six each off of Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt, five off of Stan Coveleski, four off of Carl Mays, three each off of Walter Johnson and Urban Shocker, and one each off of Ted Lyons, Red Ruffing, and Lefty Grove
-led the AL in home run percentage in 1925 (6.1) and in extra-base hits in 1922 (84)
-ranks 45th in career OPS (.924) and 49th in slugging percentage
-among MLB leftfielders, ranks fifth in career double plays (35) and tenth in assists (146)
-his 25 assists from leftfield in 1921 are the 12th most of all time, and his 23 in 1923 rank 35th
-aside from playing the outfield, he also played two games at first base, two at second base, 103 as a pinch hitter and two as a pinch runner
A legitimately great player for five seasons, but he only had four other full seasons in the majors. I just think that too many players from that era have been elected already, so why add another?
ReplyDeleteIf he was deserving, who cares about when he played? Because there are a lot of Hall of Famers from the era, he may have been excluded on account of a stacked ballot.
DeleteMy point is that he is not deserving because of the era he played in. In my opinion, it is illogical for an era to have a higher ratio of good players than another era, so if more players are being elected from the 1920s and 1930s, it is because bad candidates are being elected, not that there is an overabundance of good candidates.
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